Tough gets going when things get tough. Gurjinder Singh proved it so in the World Series Hockey on Wednesday. He came out with stunner of a goal in nick of time to give Chandigarh Comets full points against not so hotly contested crucial match against the home side Delhi in Delhi.
With Gurjinder’s goal Comets won their third straight win to firm up their chances of reaching semis.
The dull encounter was almost veering towards a draw, but Gurjinder stuck the all important goal in the 63rd minute off the team’s third and last penalty corner much to the disappointment of the Wizards.
The match, though eventful, generated some heat upfront, but failed the crowd with no goals on board. Comets had much of the attack, but their forwards Ramandeep Singh, Ranjodh Singh and Sukhwinder Singh failed upfront, leaving coach Harendra Singh to frequently change his pack.
The trio let go a couple deadly crosses from the nippy winger Sher Singh, gem of a centre from Ajitesh Rai, and then a defence splitting feed by Jiwa Mohan.
Usually precise Comets did not do well in the penalty corner area too. It was much the way the Wizards did. Somewhat a reasonable crowd lost its cheers when the homes side wasted its only penalty corner that it earned in the first half.
Vikramjeet Singh firmly struck, aiming at the middle of the cage, but goalie Harjot Singh spotted the flight early on and nonchalantly palmed it away.
Comets lone penalty corner in the first session failed to beat goalie Kamaldeep Singh, who gave his best todoay. Comets too failed to capitalize the other penalty corner in the 43rd minute due to bad stop. However, their citadel was safe as Gurjinder Singh and Mathews Phillips would sprint back to block the counter attack launched by the deadly duo Shakeel Abbasi and Rajpal Singh.
Comets overhauled their strategy in the fourth quarter to break the goal jinx. Comets came out with a diamond set piece on the rival’s 25-yard area early in this quarter, intercepting a weak clearance by Jaswinder Singh. Comets’ star Sukhwinder Gabbar lunged forward to deflect the last sortie of the wonderfully executed set piece but Kamaldeep Singh would not budge. The goalie got injured but before that saw to it his side is safe.
Today was the goalkeepers’ day, though its Gurjinder’s goal that would remain etched in the mind of those who cared to witness the match in the Delhi stadium.